California Injury Blog

Published on: May 29, 2007

DUI Crash Driver Flees to South Korea

By Brian Chase

It’s not every day that an Orange County freeway fatality gets international attention.

According to a Los Angeles Times article, there is an arrest warrant for Youn Bum Lee, an executive at Hyundai Motor Co., who left for his home country of South Korea, allegedly with the help of his colleagues, after a fatal motorcycle accident on the 55 Freeway in Orange County involving a vehicle Lee was driving while intoxicated.

Orange County prosecutors are charging Lee with three felonies in the death of 23-year-old Ryan Dallas Cook, who on the fateful night of Oct. 18, 2005, was taking the 55 Freeway back home after practicing with his band. Lee is being charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs with injury and hit-and-run with injury or death, according to the Times article. Also, the victim’s family has told prosecutors that they want Hyundai executives to be held liable because they helped Lee flee to Korea before police got wind of it.

Officials from multiple agencies are now looking for this man. His wife and child apparently moved out of the couple’s Irvine home the day after the incident. Federal officials tell the Times that some of Lee’s co-workers at Hyundai’s subsidiary in Fountain Valley were not forthcoming with information during the early stages of the investigation. Cook’s relatives are planning on filing a wrongful death lawsuit and believe that there was a cover-up at Hyundai.

According to police reports Lee, a 40-year-old executive at Hyundai, had dinner with his colleagues at a Garden Grove restaurant in the hours before the incident. The Times article says the group ate barbecued ribs and soup and drank 14 bottles of Saan Soju, a Korean rice wine with 20 percent alcohol content. Lee himself drank about eight shots, reports said. Apparently, they didn’t stop there. At 10 p.m., the party jumped to a karaoke bar where the men drank 16 cans of Hite beer in a VIP room. After that, Lee drove back alone to his Irvine home.
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Published on: May 28, 2007

California Class Action Lawsuit Could Destroy Ford

By Brian Chase

A major class action lawsuit against Ford Motor Co., claiming that the auto maker lied to consumers about the safety of its Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle models, threatens to send the struggling corporation over the edge, according to an article in The News & Observer. The suit, set for trial next month, is being brought on behalf of about 414,000 Explorer buyers in California who say Ford officials engaged in deceptive advertising by marketing Ford as a safe vehicle when they knew that it was more susceptible to roof crush and rollovers.

Ford’s trial team claims that this lawsuit threatens the $2 billion Ford earned in the 1990s from Explorers it built and sold in California and puts the automaker on the brink of complete collapse. Plaintiffs say Ford should be penalized irrespective of the financial impact because lives have been lost and major injuries have resulted because of “Ford’s deception.”

Personal injury attorneys and experts alike agree that the Explorer is one of the most dangerous vehicles ever produced in the country. Research has consistently shown that these SUVs have a tendency to flip over even when speeds are not remarkably high. Ford decided to continue with its faulty design because the company’s executives knew that it was simply more profitable to do so. To make matters worse, the company produced a marketing campaign to sell the Explorer as a safe and reliable vehicle for daily use. The class action lawsuit alleges further stating that Ford’s deception cost California’s car buyers about $500 million when their vehicles’ values plummeted once the defects became more widely known.

According to experts who were consulted for this lawsuit, the value of each of these 414,569 SUVs dropped from $1,000 to $1,300 beyond normal depreciation. The lawsuit does not seek specific damages. According to the News & Observer article, the judge has broad discretion to order Ford to pay, if he finds that the auto maker did in fact violate state consumer protection laws. This lawsuit is the first of its kind to go to trial and is being closely watched, the article states.
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Published on: May 27, 2007

SUV Accident Results After Parking Brake Fails

By Brian Chase

A woman was run over by her own SUV outside a 7-Eleven in Pacific Beach Thursday afternoon because of a defective parking brake, according to an article in the San Diego Union Tribune. The tragic incident occurred outside the store when the woman got out of her 2005 Lexus sport utility vehicle. As soon as she got out, the vehicle started to roll backward, according to the report.

Officials said the woman had set the parking brake before she got out of the vehicle, but that she had left the SUV in neutral gear. The woman then attemped to stop the moving SUV by jumping into the driver’s seat but fell to the ground and was run over by the front tires, the article states. Officials, who investigated the seemingly freak incident, later found that the SUV’s parking brakes were defective. The woman is expected to recover although she suffered massive internal injuries.

Manufacturing defects are very common among most brands of vehicles. There are thousands of components in today’s vehicles; some of them are bound to have design defects. Some design defects are just not discovered before the vehicles are released for sale. History and industry internal documents show that a substantial number of defects are known by the manufacturers before the vehicles are sold and some defects are known before the vehicles are actually built. Some manufacturers will knowingly market defective vehicles figuring that getting caught will not be as big a loss as re-tooling or recalling.
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Published on: May 26, 2007

Speeding Accidents – The Dangers of Driving On PCH

By Brian Chase

An investigation is ongoing into a four car collision that took the lives of Grisna Meas 17, and Rick Vetter, 52, of Long Beach, who were apparently killed on impact after Deneshio Lankford’s Honda swerved sideways into oncoming traffic, where it was struck by a SUV – splitting the car in two.

Lankford, 20, also of Long Beach was apparently speeding on PCH when he lost control and crossed into oncoming traffic, according to Seal Beach police Sgt. Ron Lavelle. When Lankford hit Vetter’s BMW, it burst into flames, killing Vetter, as well as Lankford’s passenger, Grisna Meas, 17. Lankford got off with only a broken leg and a broken arm.

According to Dateline, after combing through over 100,000 accident reports, on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in 2005 there were 4 fatalities – 3 of those were speed related, and PCH itself was designated as a dangerous highway.

According to the National Center for Statistics and Analysis out of the 4329 fatalities in all of California in 2005, approximately 25 percent of those were speed-related.
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Published on: May 25, 2007

Drunk Driver Gets 4 Years – Victims Get A Life Sentence!

By Brian Chase

Carol Daniel and Stacey Neria were minding their own business jogging along PCH when William Todd Bradshaw plowed his car into their bodies, causing them to fly into the air and then come crashing down on his car. What did Bradshaw do? He drove his bloodied car away from the scene of the hit and run and hid until the police caught up with him 9 days later. It is unbelievable that Bradshaw was still driving! He had 3 previous DUIs!

That was April 8, 2006, a little over a year ago. Stacy Neria and Carol Daniel lived, but their lives have been left in tatters. After the accident 34 year-old Stacy was only able to communicate by blinking her eyes, but now over a year later she has learned to swallow, smile and speak softly, but her three children have lost the mother they once knew. Carol Daniel has regained some movement in her arms, but the rest of the 42 year-old mother’s body is also paralyzed. Carol also has three children who have also lost the mother they knew.

What did Bradshaw get? In February of this year he was sentenced to 4 years. But, Carol and Stacy got a life sentence!
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Published on: May 24, 2007

Fatal Car Crash Offender Receives Sentencing

By Brian Chase

A Pittsburgh truck driver who improperly hitched a wood-chipper to his vehicle was sentenced Tuesday to nine to 18 months in jail for causing a crash that killed a father and two of his triplets, according to an Associated Press news report that was posted on the San Francisco Chronicle’s website.

The wood-chipper broke free from Bradley Demitras’ truck on a busy highway, rolled across the median and slammed into the family’s minivan. Demitras expressed remorse for his actions, but of course, it was too late. The damage had been done.

“All I can say is I am sorry,” he said. “I know that sounds like the hollowest thing in the world, but I am sorry.”

After his sentence, Demitras must prominently display a picture of the accident scene in his home, Allegheny County Judge Lester Nauhaus ruled. He must also serve six years’ probation. Demitras, 35, of Pine Township, could have faced more than 17 years in prison. He pleaded guilty in March to three counts of involuntary manslaughter among other charges and acknowledged that the wood-chipper was not properly hooked up to his truck before he left work on April 13, 2006.
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Published on: May 23, 2007

Fatal Car Crash Leads to Guilty Plea

By Brian Chase

Actor Lane Garrison pleaded guilty Monday to several alcohol-related driving charges, including vehicular manslaughter, in connection with the December death of a popular Beverly Hills High School student, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times. The former star of the Fox drama, “Prison Break” could face up to six years and eight months behind bars after admitting responsibility for the accident in which 17-year-old Vahagn Setian was killed and two 15-year-old girls were seriously injured, the article stated.

The 27-year-old actor was driving his 2001 Land Rover when it crashed into a tree on South Beverly Drive near Olympic Boulevard just before midnight on Dec. 2. The three teenagers were passengers in Garrison’s SUV. Authorities said the vehicle was traveling at more than 40 mph in a 25-mph zone. At the time of the accident, Beverly Hills police questioned Garrison but did not arrest him. Blood tests subsequently showed the actor was driving under the influence of cocaine and had a blood-alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit, the Times article said.

Police had recommended charging Garrison with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, which could have increased his potential prison time to 14 years, but prosecutors did not find grounds for that charge. Garrison pleaded guilty on Monday to one felony count of driving under the influence, causing injury to multiple victims, and one misdemeanor count of providing alcohol to a minor. He also admitted causing great bodily injury and death and driving with a blood-alcohol level of more than 0.15%.
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Published on: May 22, 2007

Truck Drivers to Get Government Mandated Monitoring Devices

By Brian Chase

Officials are now saying that the government must require the trucking industry to use electronic onboard recorders to ensure truck drivers comply with the federal “hours-of-service” regulation, according to a Gannett News Service report published in the Indianapolis Star.

According to most recent statistics available, large trucks — delivery vans to 18-wheelers — were involved in 5,000 fatal accidents on U.S. highways and 82,000 crashes where someone was injured; all over the course of one year. Experts say drowsy truck drivers who have been behind the wheel for long periods of time caused a large percentage of those crashes in 2005.

Mark Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told the news agency in an interview last week that the government must mandate onboard recorders to make sure trucking companies do not allow their drivers to work more than they should be working.

“You want to have a truck that’s the safest it possibly can be mechanically,” he said. “Just as important, (the driver) needs to be alert. When he shows up for work, he or she cannot be fatigued.”
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Published on: May 21, 2007

Recall of 2.5 Million GE Dishwashers Due To Fire Hazard

By Brian Chase

General Electric is recalling about 2.5 million dishwashers because of a fire hazard. Company officials said last week that the liquid rinse-aid in the dishwasher can leak from its dispenser on to the dishwasher’s internal wiring thereby causing an electrical short and overheating, posing a fire hazard.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, GE has received 191 reports of overheated wiring including 56 reports of property damage. There were 12 reports of fires that escaped the dishwasher. Damage was however limited to the dishwasher and the adjacent area. No injuries have been reported involving the defective products.

This recall includes GE built-in dishwashers sold under the following brand names: Eterna, GE, GE Profile, GE Monogram, Hotpoint, and Sears-Kenmore. These dishwashers were reportedly sold at department and appliance stores from September 1997 through December 2001 for about $400. Company officials ask that consumers immediately stop using the recalled dishwashers and contact General Electric for a free repair, a $150 rebate towards the purchase of a new GE dishwasher, or a $300 rebate towards the purchase of a new GE Profile or GE Monogram dishwasher. For additional information, contact General Electric toll-free at (877) 607-6395 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET Monday through Saturday. Consumers also can visit GE’s Website.
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Published on: May 20, 2007

Sex Abuse Cases Settle For $14 Million

By Brian Chase

An order of Roman Catholic priests reached a tentative settlement last week with nine men and women who say they were abused by a Jesuit priest over a 16-year period, according to an Associated Press news report published in the Daily Breeze newspaper. The deal mediated by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge will reportedly give each of the victims $1.6 million.

The deal was reached Thursday morning after several days of closed-door talks mediated by Judge, Charles McCoy, Rev. Alfred Naucke, a spokesman for the Jesuits of the California Province, told an AP reporter. The news agency reported that it learned through an anonymous source that the settlement was for $14.4 million although that amount was not officially disclosed. The settlement is yet to be signed by all parties.

The money for the victims will not come from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, but from the Jesuit order itself and its insurance companies. The accusations involve Mark Falvey, a priest who allegedly abused 10 children during a 16-year period beginning in 1959. Falvey died in 1975, the AP article reported. Falvey was ordained in California, but spent several years in China and returned to Los Angeles in 1959. He then served for 15 years at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Hollywood. While at that church, he is accused of abusing children younger than 12 and, in some cases, raping them in the church.
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